Never say never
by cadilla
Summary: A female engineer captures the heart of the Colonel much to the amusement of the team. Involves a hostage situation and an injury. PS. a song I listened to while writing this was Lontano by Ludovico Einaudi, it should add to the feel of it.
1. Chapter 1 Life never makes it easy

_Disclaimer: the characters that are not the fruits of my imagination belong to the respective creators of the A-Team and "Lontano"._

'You know, that the Colonel has put his eye on you, don't you?' Face asked one morning when they were alone.

'What? Even if that is true, he can only dream about it. He's not really my type, if you know what I mean,' she snapped and drank her coffee. One that the silver haired colonel had thoughtfully supplied to her.

Truth be told, he was mad about her, almost unable to come up with his striking plans in her presence. He also knew he will never have her since she hated his kind of guys, cocky and self-centred. She was all for equality and respect between men and women whereas he was more old-school, ready to take care of his woman but expecting not to hear much of her opinion in the house. Yet again, he was willing to make an exception to her, his passion for her had outdone everything that had been before.

Four months ago, she had hired the A-Team to escape some nasty thugs who were trying to block her out of her work. She was an engineer, a profession commonly not associated with women. She had had to take a lot of crap from the men who thought they knew better, but in reality she was really bright, solving major problems for breakfast.

That's what so much attracted Hannibal, he discovered another type of women, the smart ones that he could battle with. At first they had been like a cat and a dog, always fighting and getting at each other's throats but he had to admit that her brilliant idea had been the key to their success that time and so they decided to keep her phone number in case they needed some calculative and creative thoughts.

She was helping the A-Team out of her free time which was scarce even without their outrageous tasks. And now Face was telling her the Colonel had the hots for her. It made her confused, they had always been fighting and having disagreements. She took another sip of her coffee and heard a car approach.

It was Murdoch, happy as ever. For some reason she had always felt so good when he was around. His free and positive spirit radiated on her making her feel capable of anything life chose to throw at her.

She heard the distinct steps of Hannibal approach and he briefed her about the mission at hand. She could not help to think in the back of her head about what Face had just told her. Even if it was the case that he was feeling for her, she could never read that from his face that was as smug yet serious as ever.

They went on to buy some cars and more than conveniently were they left together on the car lot.

'I want to choose,' she said with maybe too much vigour. He could only comply to an order so clear. She wandered along the lines of used cars he watching her every move. If he had had just a little less experience as a fugitive he would have missed the slight noise of a semi-automatic being cocked. He rushed forward just in time to shield her from the bullets that followed. He felt the burning pain of getting shot but cared only for her safety.

'Are you OK?' he yelled over the clinking of the bullets when they hit the cars surrounding them.

'Yeah, I'm fine, gosh, you are bleeding!' she said with horror on her face. He dismissed her worry and was already looking for ways to get them away from the vast fairly open field that meant certain doom if they stayed any longer. He grabbed her by the arm and they started running towards one of the side gates of the car lot. He stopped abruptly when a 9mm was shoved in his face.

*_Please review! It will be greatly appreciated, as this is my first fanfic that I have mustered the guts to publish! :)*_


	2. Chapter 2 Can she do it?

_Disclaimer: Again, only Kate is my creation, don't sue for having just a little fun with the A-Team characters._

They were bound and blindfolded and stuffed into the back of a van. He was terrified for her when he heard a slight whimper from her. He shifted closer to her and all he could do to comfort her was to lean his arm against hers. It hurt like hell and he figured he'd got shot to the back of the shoulder. To his relief she didn't pull away but turned herself closer to him.

'It's my fault, I'm sorry, I should've let you do your job and stuck with mine,' she whispered through her muffled sobbing.

'There's nothing to do about it right now, but it wasn't your fault, I promise,' he answered. They both knew he was lying, it was at best a shared guilt, but her caprice had taken them further towards the centre of the lot.

The ride was fairly long and he felt his head go dizzy from the blood-loss. When they were roughly torn from the van, it felt like past noon by the thick heat that was almost solid around them. She heard him stumble behind herself and began to feel worried for now he was the only one she could count on to get out of there. It was a tough building with solid concrete walls and by the rooms she saw it was perfect for holding hostages in. The doors were mostly metal with heavy-duty hinges and so on. Even the windows were marbled so that no clear picture of what was around them couldn't be seen. The men holding them captive led them to a room and left without a word. She rubbed her wrists where the handcuffs had been and he dropped languidly on the narrow bed instantly losing consciousness.

She walked over to him as quietly as her heels allowed and gently tended to the wound. It wasn't deep but the bullet had hit some big vessel and he'd lost significant amounts of blood. She stood and knocked on the door and demanded for some whisky. For cleaning the wound and encouragement. She rolled him gently over so he was lying on his stomach. She knew he always had a knife in one of his pockets but wasn't sure the guys who abducted them had found and taken it. She went through his pockets and found a small pocketknife.

She used the alcohol to clean the knife and soaked a piece of cloth in it to clean the wound. It took time because she stopped every time he seemed to surface from unconsciousness. Even her brief experience as a field paramedic she knew the sooner the bullet was removed the better. She took the box of matches from his pocket, lit one and held the blade of the knife in it. She gave a sigh for reassurance and as gently but steadily she cut into the wound, looking for the bullet. This woke him up, all right. She reached for the whisky and gave it to him.

'Drink at least half of this, it will hurt. The wound is not very deep but because of probable infections and stuff…'

'Yeyea, I get it, just be quick, OK?' he answered indulging on the whisky.

'Ready? Or do you want to wait a little until you get more drunk?'

'Nah, I think it will hurt more afterwards, just get it over with,' he said lying back on his stomach, getting ready for the pain. She was now more nervous of screwing up and also took a sip of the alcohol to calm her nerves. He observed this with slight contempt, a woman drinking whisky was a definite turn-on. She cleaned the sides of the wound again and without much warning poked in it for the bullet. He winced in pain but uttered nothing. He grabbed the sheets for assistance but she kept a firm hand and found the bullet much sooner than he had expected.

She poured some of the alcohol on the wound which must have burned like hell but he took it. The worst was over and she tied the wound up as best as she could.

'I think you better lie down for some time,' she said with much relief and did he sense some warming towards him? She cleared up the mess she had caused around the bed and demanded more clean bandages and a recycle bin.

The released tension made her feel sleepy but since there was only this narrow bed which was occupied by Hannibal, she only sat down with her back to a wall and closed her eyes to think. She felt the waves of seriousness crash over her and tears swelled in her eyes which she suppressed. He noticed her uneven breaths and called her name.

'Yeah? You OK?'

'I… uh, we better switch places, I could sleep on the floor,'

'Well, actually, no, you couldn't,' she had just had an idea that she hoped he would say out loud. For that to happen she needed all her skills to manipulate his mind to come up with the solution of them sharing the narrow bed.

'I mean, if you are not keen on sharing, which you're probably not, then…' she looked at him for a moment and then remembered something. Without a word she pounded on the door and demanded some antibiotics.

'Hey, look, you slug, if he doesn't get something to fight the infection, you'll have only half of the ransom, get the math?' she yelled at the guard who subsequently opened the door and, after cuffing her, took her away. He felt too weak to protest, only observed what was happening. Before drifting to an oblivion he noticed the time, it was half ten.

*_Again, I would more than appreciate if you took the time to write something back to me :)*_


	3. Chapter 3 Something's not right

_Disclaimer: I still don't own the A-Team. (As much as I'd like to…)_

When he next heard the locks click, 40 minutes had passed. She returned without the cuffs, in fact she was holding them in her hand.

'Where were you?'

'Went to get as much as I could for keeping away the infection that is bound to hit soon. How're you feeling?' she was really almost friendly to him now. Was it because of the injury? Was she really keeping him alive in order to have more chance of getting out of there? He just gave a faint reassuring nod and she emptied a syringe into his shoulder muscle.

'What's with the cuffs?' he asked with a blank look.

'Oh, I told them you might get violent and that I had a tough time so they let me have them,' she smirked playfully, 'Really, I have seen them used as a weapon and figured the more we had, the better.'

'You come up with that just as you go along?'

'Pretty much, yeah. I also had some chance to check this place out, it is vast and I mean really vast. I have a vague idea where the exits are, one is straight up the corridor but that's like 200 yards. The other, the one we came in through is through some rooms on the left and it goes to the inner yard. Are you even listening?'

'Yes, sorry. Go on.'

'Well, I thought I should give you all the info I have so you could come up with a plan, maybe. So, the best chance is to get to the yard, boost a car and flee, 'cause these guys don't exactly have a hotel here, I heard they were giving the team just four days to get the money, I never got the sum, but it must be gigantic, because they are already scheming our burial.'

'Okay, means we need out soon, how many are they?'

'I saw seven armed and some bosses who I believe have more armed bodyguards. On the plus side, they seem really dumb and fairly uncoordinated.'

'Good, mhh, do we have some water, I think there is a hangover coming,' she stood and fetched the bottle that she gave him. It was unopened. He felt she was beginning to be too desperate to save him, she was yielding everything.

'Say, what took you so long?' he asked. She tensed for a brief moment which he didn't miss, before she answered:

'As I said, the place is huge with intricate corridors and many security checkpoints,' she was evidently lying but he decided not to push the matter.

'You know, I could sleep sideways so we both fit on the bed. It's going to be crammed but still, not the floor,' he offered a bit hesitantly. The bigger was his surprise when she told him to move over and even let him slide his arm around her waist.

'You comfortable?'

'I'm OK, Smith, it's yourself you should be worried about here,' she whispered an answer. His doubts were reassured – she was way too worried about him.

'How bad is the wound?'

'I did my best to clean it and it seems that the bullet didn't fracture the scapula, it was lying just on top of the bone. Also, good news is that it was still in one piece. Still, I don't know about hygiene, I will probably have to clean it a couple of times a day,' she said, turning her head slightly towards him.

'You sound too worried for it to be so minor,' he blew her cover. She turned almost on her back, taking extra care to be gentle when moving his left arm from her waist now to her belly and looked straight in his eyes.

'The thing is you lost blood when it hit some big vessel,' she said seriously. Hannibal studied her expression for any other clues but found none. And he used to be such a good read of people. They looked at each other for a while, neither wanting to say more and she turned back on her side.

Soon he could hear her deep even breaths that assured him she was asleep. He, on the other hand, was unable to catch some sleep until the small hours of dawn. He was almost happy, in a very twisted way, of the situation going the way it had. She was now curled up beside him in a bed commonly too narrow to fit one person.

He thought about their relationship and came to a conclusion that she would never give in to him and this generosity from her was just her female instincts to take care of the weak. He hated being weak but having his arm around her made more than up for it. Never mind the circumstances. He then, surprisingly, thought of Nam, the way the lights never went out in the barracks there, just like in the place they were held now.

She stirred a bit only to snug closer to his chest. He smiled into her hair. When he finally gave up trying to sleep, he began to think of a plan as she had advised him to. It was damn near a fool-proof place, heavily guarded and by the long ride there it could be miles out of LA, impossible for the team to find them.

At 8 o'clock sharp, someone rattled a bat on the bars of the door and she woke up. For a moment she felt confused, waking in the arms of some man but then it all came back to her.

'Good morning, sunshine!' he said, flashing his trademark smile despite being as tired as he was.

'Morning, what's making you so happy?' she said a bit grumpily while getting out of the so-called bed, stretching her stiff limbs. For what it's worth she had slept well considering the circumstances.

'Just thinking about a plan, it's not much but as soon as possible, we should act,'

'How should we do that? Remember, you're still wounded and as you will probably say, I'm just a girl,' she snapped for some reason even she didn't know, 'Turn on your stomach, I'll take a look of the wound,' he did as she had told him and luckily it looked better, not great but not infected also. She checked the medical supplies she had managed to get last night and they were really scarce. That urged her to get him into the best possible shape as soon as possible because these guys wouldn't fall for the same trick again.

She tied the wound and gave him a small pat on the back to assure she was done. They ate the breakfast that was slid in through the bars. It was cold Chinese. After a short quarrel over who should be privileged for a bigger share they split it point blank evenly and ate in silence.

'I don't think you're just a girl, you know,' he said finally breaking the silence when they were cuddled on the bed again.

'Yeah, well, it's true isn't it?' she whispered submissively.

'No, it's not, you saved my life, you put up with me and even fight back to me. I appreciate that.'

'Then why would you think this is all about you? That I keep to my point of view because of you?' she made him feel stupider by the second. 'No point in arguing, though. I have an idea how to get out of here,' she said, taking extra precaution to talk as quietly as possible.

'What people who take hostages are scarcely scared of is being taken hostage and that's what we shall do. One of their guys is the key out of here. It only has to be a sufficiently important one so that they won't just sacrifice him,' he had to give it up for her, it was nearly genius if it wasn't for just a couple of pot-holes.

'Well, for one, how do you expect to get a hostage important enough when they even give our meals to us through the bars?'

'We'll figure something out, I got us a gun when I went with them to the medical cabinet,' she said pulling Hannibal's 9mm S&W out of her jacket pocket. It was loaded just as he'd left it. He smiled and in the elation kissed her on the cheek.

'You amaze me, you know!' he said, 'still, what makes you say they won't just shoot the guy?'

'They are sissies, that's why. There is only one guy who is potentially dangerous but if we're lucky enough then he won't even be here tomorrow.'

'Tomorrow?'

'Yes, that's our best chance since I have no idea how long they plan to keep us here or alive even,' she was dead serious when she said that. Instinctively, he shifted closer to her to offer reassurance that she accepted. She'd grown accustomed to having him around all the time. She even almost felt a bit affectionate towards him.

'You should really get some sleep tonight,' she said, 'Good night, Smith,'

'Good night, Kate,' he answered with a deep sigh. She was right again.

_*Please review! :) I know this is getting annoying of me to write it at the end of every chappie, but I am really trying hard with this story so be kind to drop a line or two ;)*_


	4. Chapter 4 The breakout

Their plan failed, though, as the next day Hannibal felt worse. She was shocked and willing to do whatever to help him. She managed to convince one of the men to drive to LA to get some medicine. She figured that since she had already forfeited all her dignity she might as well use her being a woman to get what she needed. In a weird way, this had really warmed her towards the colonel, being in such a situation.

Her most difficult day was probably their day five when the colonel developed a high fever and was rambling all night. For most of the time it was just incoherent pieces of conversation but around four in the morning he opened his blue eyes and looked as if he was completely awake.

'You know, I have real feelings for you, Kate,' and she could only look at him, unknowing if this was real or just a feverish man's talking. She decided it would be best for them both to go back to sleep and he in his confused mind deemed that a fair enough idea. He was a bit calmer towards morning and she could get a couple of hours' sleep.

Before breakfast she injected him with the last of the antipyretic, hoping it would make him well enough to break out of there. When their capturers gave them the breakfast, his look was already becoming more focused as the fever eased.

'Listen, Hannibal, this is it! We have to do this now, remember the plan?' she looked straight into his eyes that were clearer than they had been in days.

'Yes, we'll pretend a fight and then turn it against the guard, do you have the gun?'

'You should have it, I can get another one from the guard as he'll probably be all over you, not me,' she said, assured that he had come around. Now they only had to be quick, efficient and immensely lucky.

'But remember, I can't block with my left hand, you need to get to him before he knocks me out,'

'You regard that's an option?'

'Have to be ready for the worst. If everything fails, leave without me and get the team, OK?'

'Not OK, Hannibal,' he noticed she was calling him by his nick-name rather than his last name 'Smith' into which she always managed to put a different dose of disdain.

'Promise me you'll save yourself,' he looked at her dead serious. She remembered that nights' revelation about his feelings and she was confused whether he was in the same state now. She gave a reluctant nod and they picked up a quarrel, just like in the old times. She noticed how badly it affected him but for the bigger plan she kept at it. The guard was now yelling through the bars and he seized her by the hair yelling something about her messing with his health. The guard stormed in after fumbling with the keys and grabbed Hannibal from behind. Their struggle gave her enough time to get the guard's revolver from its holster and point it to his temple.

The man froze in mid-movement and Hannibal cuffed him. She took the keys from the guard and they stepped out of the room.

'Get us to the door and you'll live,' Hannibal whispered in the man's ear. She knew he had killed before, but that was back in the war. Still, hearing him say the words scared her and in some ways gave her the necessary reassurance. They moved slowly towards the direction where she remembered they must have entered. Through two rooms they got just fine but no sooner than she could feel a part of her relaxing there was a shoot down in the last room.

They could now see the yard but with only scarce bullets they were lucky to make it outside. In a desperate last manoeuvre they ran, still holding the man captive, for the door. It must have been as unexpected for the guys as the move the original Hannibal pulled off going over the Alps but it worked. The last milestone was the gate. She got another bright idea to drag their hostage with them until through the gate and then flee.

Driving back towards LA he took a turn for the worse, the exertion not doing much good. She drove as fast as she could while still keeping an eye on him as well as their possible tailgaters. She pulled up in front of a small villa that Face had conned before the mission and blew the horn. The team rushed outside when she was dragging Hannibal out of the passenger seat. He looked like he had aged years and that was enough a clue for BA to fire up his van and get the colonel to a hospital. Face would obviously go as well which left Kate "home" with Murdock.

*_Would love to hear your kind or not so kind comments and where you'd like this to go ;)*_


	5. Chapter 5 What really happened

'What happened there? We were supposed to meet in half an hour and you two never showed up!'

'I know, some guys opened fire on us and took us hostage,' she answered while sipping her first coffee in a week. She was now anxious to go to the hospital to make sure he was OK. What, had she really started to care? Was it just the average care or something more? She felt her thoughts showing on her face but if HM noticed, he was very candid about it.

'What happened to the Colonel?'

'He took a shot to his left shoulder. Nothing very serious but blood loss and bad conditions for surgery had their toll on him, you know, I did my best,' she was falling apart now.

'Oh, I'm sure you did! Besides, as Faceman told me, you would be the Colonel's first choice to be abducted with,' he said with his characteristic ear-to-ear smile. She could not help but smirk.

'He tells that now to everyone?'

'Naw, he just mentioned it yesterday, we were getting out of our minds here, you know. No way we could get that half a mil for each together by tomorrow.'

'That what they demanded? We must have been real cheap,' she quipped, 'Do you think it's a good idea that all of the wanted ones of the team are at one place at the hospital?' she asked suddenly. Her mind seemed to take no rest.

'No, it probably isn't the best configuration but you are not going anywhere until you get a sound rest, Face needs to be there to con all the doctors but most importantly the nurses and BA, well, he needs to drive the van,'

'And so you are left here, babysitting me, right?'

'Uuh, well, yeah. But only if that's OK with you, milady,' he said again with a wide grin. She chucked, he always could make her smile. They were just getting up to date about what exactly had been going on when the phone rang.

Murdock answered it.

'It's Face, he says that Hannibal is out of the OR and they'll get on their way back as soon as he comes out of the anaesthesia'

'Oh, good, is he OK?' she asked which Murdock transferred to Face. He nodded and hung up. Now there was a thick anticipation in the air. For him it was understandable, his commanding officer and good friend was coming back from the hospital but why'd she care? The last thing she needed now was to let what Face told her (and Murdock) affect her too much.

*_This is pretty much as far as I have written it and I would greatly appreciate your ideas about where it should go next? Also, please review and comment ;)*_


	6. Chapter 6 Revelations

_I own only Kate, the rest belongs to the respective owners of the A-Team! :)_

**Chapter VI – Revelations**

They heard the loud rumble of the van after about an hour had passed of the phone call. She got up from the couch to see Hannibal, vaguely aided by BA walk in through the door. He glanced over the room, clearly looking for her and when their eyes met, everyone could see something change in the both of them.

'You should be resting.'

'So should you. Uh, BA, help him to his room, will you?'

'Sure, but he's still right, you did a great job and have earned a rest,' he said passing her on the way to the stairs. She sat down again on the couch, supremely relieved that he had looked much better.

'He's your greatest fan now, you know,' Face teased her, 'he told of how you never lost your nerve and were real tough all the way through. You wanna' tell us how it really was?'

Why should my version be different of his?'

'Cause he's crazy about you, that's why,' Face was getting himself a drink, a Scotch, and took a seat in an old armchair beside the couch. She didn't feel like thinking back to that horrible week but she sensed that the guys won't let her off the hook so easily. She talked briefly of what happened at the car dealership and had got to the part where they were locked up when Hannibal, a bit grumpily using his superior rank to tell BA off, joined the conference in the living room. He, obviously, took a seat next to Kate which didn't bother her at all, to her surprise.

'What did I miss?'

'Sleep and quiet. What do you think you're doing here?'

'I got bored being alone up there, that's all. Besides, from the look on your faces something interesting is going on,' he grinned back at her. She could not help but to give a dismissive headshake. She continued her story.

'Wait, did they just give you all the necessary supplies?'

'Yeah, figured they thought two hostages are worth more than one, I guess. Anyways, I'm no hero, anyone would have done what I did, seriously,' she was feeling his light blue eyes in the back of her head and it made her a bit nervous. She knew he suspected something about those 40 minutes she took once when she went to get new bandages.

When her story got to that point he decided to add some more information that she thoughtfully omitted.

'And that took you how long, forty minutes? Come on, be honest, Kate.' She turned to face him and in her eyes was something he'd never seen in them, it was pure embarrassment. She gave a sigh and put her face in her hands for a moment.

'Right, you guys must dig up everything. There are no free lunches. I used what I had. Do I really need to go into detail?'

'Yes, because I need to know as much about these crooks as I can before I go after them,'

'No, Hannibal, *you* are not going after anyone in some time,'

'Poor thing, what did they make you go through that you are so embarrassed to tell?' he put his right arm gently around her shoulders. From habit she leaned into his embrace and after a moments silence whispered:

'Blowjobs. Everything besides the food cost me sexual favours, I'm… I'm so sorry!' she broke down in tears that she tried to force back. The guys exchanged looks, they'd all been raised to be gentlemen and that was just a horrible sight.

'Shush, Kate, you have nothing to be sorry about, calm down now. You're safe now with us,' he whispered reassuringly.

'I know, just that… it's so damn ugly. But still, what matters is that everyone is alive and more or less fine,' she said, drying her tears. Hannibal only marvelled at her strength.

Everyone was looking for some change of subject that would lift the atmosphere a bit.

'I never knew you drove a manual? They must have left that particular car so unguarded 'cos they figured no-one in America would drive one away?'

'Hah, the thing is the first car I ever drove had a really touchy manual gearbox and I've preferred them ever since,' she said with a much happier glint in her eyes. She liked her cars and loved talking about them. Hannibal had saved the day. Murdock got up from beside Kate and started making some tea and coffee. The atmosphere was calming down like it always did after their gigs. They ordered takeout, not Chinese this time, and had a surprisingly good laugh considering that their leader had been just let out of hospital and their good friend was going through an emotionally very difficult time.

Kate went upstairs to her bedroom when the clock had struck almost one. She was beaming for some reason she herself hardly knew. She'd had a good time with the guys, they'd been so comforting and supportive that she felt all the nastiness of their abduction wash away. She slid into her nightgown and took a moment to enjoy the simple feeling of having a bed in which she could stretch herself.

That brought her mind to Hannibal and she knew that no matter how sleepy she was she would not sleep before she had figured out what was going on with her own feelings. She thought to herself: 'He was so different back there, any other time and he would have used every chance to give me hell for slowing down the mission or messing up. I don't get this, if he is so in love with me, what does he expect to happen if he does nothing about it?'

'But how do I feel about this whole thing, what if it is all just like Faceman said, that he grows on you, or me rather? Ahhh, this is so complicated. I do like him just that little bit, it must be the fact that I shared a bed with him for a week, but still… what if I am just one of the manifestations of that 'jazz' of his? That he'll go after me only to prove that he can?' her mind was throwing the odd questions at her that she had no hope of answering and after hours of tossing around on the bed she decided to go downstairs and get something for the insomnia.

When she reached kitchen, she gave an involuntary jump when she saw that Hannibal was sitting on one of the stools and gently spinning the Scotch in his glass.

'Oh, sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone to be up at this time,' she felt herself blush.

'It's OK, want one?'

'I'm not that much of a whisky drinker, but at the moment, sure, I'd have one,'

'What kept you awake?'

'Too much on my mind, Hannibal. It's not every day that I have to take care of wounded people and have gunfights, you know'

'Yeah, you know what, you never really get used to this happening. But you gotta keep a cool head and not go too deep into it,'

'I guess you're right. So tell me, what was bothering you? Does the shoulder hurt?'

'It's OK, I just….' He slid his hand through his hair to hide some of his emotions and continued, looking sternly in her eyes:

'I missed you.'

She blinked a couple of times in surprise but then some side of her that must have been brought to surface by the whisky, said:

'Aha, and what exactly did you miss?' with a slightly mischievous smile.

'Well,' he matched the smile, 'that luscious curve, for example, where your waist goes on to become your hips,' and with that he stood and they were standing before each other, looking in each other's eyes.

'That one?' she whispered taking his right hand and sliding it down her side until it rested just below her waist. He put his glass on the counter-top and took a step closer to her. Neither of them could believe that was happening but both were equally curious of where it would end up.

*_Please, please R&R! I am thinking of changing the rating with the next chapter but let me know if it is worth it, because this now reads as a really sweet story. Let me know what you think, this is really important to me :)*_


	7. Chapter 7 The details are what matters

**Chapter VII – The details are what matters**

In the morning she woke up in her bedroom in his embrace. She snuggled a bit closer to him and recalled last night. They had made slow and _very_ sweet love, he'd been a completely different self than she'd ever known him. She felt a smile sweep across her lips when she thought about how they had been for the weeks the team was working on her case.

She had been driven to the end of her rope by those pigs who tried to teach her the "real place for a girl" by stealing her jobs and seeding distrust for her in her possible clients. The last drop in the already too full cup was when they used her name under some blueprints that were obviously faulty. That bridge in Riverside that collapsed just two years after completion was the brainchild of that Marcus Ruger, Kate's biggest hater. He was also the stupidest as the error that made that bridge collapse wasn't in the construction department.

He had, in fact, decided that it would be OK to skip the _vital_ calculations on bearing strength of the cables that were ideally supposed to support the bridge. They snapped and brought a massive law-suit on Kate for "deliberately or not causing the death of 23 persons and massive emotional losses for the whole community" as the news-papers served it.

She was so broken up that upon hearing rumours about the A-Team she didn't even hesitate to find them. She went through all the trouble, Mr Lee, then some more of odd places all over LA until finally, when she had almost lost hope, she was approached in a dim-lit bar by Hannibal. Her first impression of the team was that this had not been such a great idea after all. They were like a group of misfits, all in their own way.

What had changed her mind about Hannibal to whom she'd taken such a violent dislike in the first moments? It started when he'd done what she hated the most – doubted her credibility as an engineer and went on to throw demeaning comments on her address. Now she knew that there was nothing to be so fussed about, it meant nothing if he called someone 'kiddo' or gave her the easier tasks on the mission. In a way he was just trying to be nice to her which she, being blinded by all the thugs that surrounded her, could not appreciate at the time.

It all seemed so logical to her now and she shook her head at how prejudiced she'd been.

Even if it was a very small movement it woke him from his light sleep. He, too, needed a moment or two to think about it all. Why, he knew not, but it became almost a sport for him to annoy her with some small remark or chore. He tried to justify it by the fact that she'd started it and never missed a chance to get even. And so they became a bickering couple that was a source of infinite amusement to the rest of the team.

One day Face, who was maybe the closest to Hannibal, decided to ask him about Kate and the whole situation.

'Why don't you cut her some slack? I've never seen you so… well, like you are when she's around,'

'Hmhh, I don't know, Face. Having a conversation with her is impossible.'

'That's all?' Face asked with a look that said he already knew something more.

'Drop it, Face,' Hannibal blurted before he could stop himself. His reply told Face all he needed to confirm his doubts that there was something more to it than Hannibal had let out to be seen.

There he was lying on the ruffled bed with his arm around her, thinking back to the times they'd already shared.

* * *

He'd recognised her tall figure the moment he stepped into the bar. She was leaning elegantly on the counter in an attempt to get a refill. He took a moment to run his eyes over her and then continued to buy her the drink. The bartender was his friend from the army and that gin and tonic on the rocks arrived twice as fast.

She accepted the drink with maybe just a hint of reluctance and they joined the table with the rest of the team.

'That's Lieutenant Templeton Peck or Face as everyone calls him.' He began to introduce his team proudly. She gave polite nods and smiles and shook some hands.

'There's BA Baracus and HM Murdock,' both the guys greeted her in their own ways.

'I'm Hannibal Smith and we're the A-Team,' he finished with a bright smile on his face.

The evening proceeded with her telling the story that was already familiar to Hannibal from the day he was Mr Lee but he listened to her every word. He tried to catch the subtle differences in her versions. Sometimes it mattered more what was left unsaid than what was told in a loud voice. He'd used the tactic before and it seldom backfired.

To him she seemed to click with Murdock immediately, they were cracking jokes already before she'd finished her summary of the whole story.

'You ever thought that there might be a reason behind all this? Why would they want you out of the way so bad?'

The first half of Hannibal's question seemed to stick out to her more than the rest of it as if he were accusing her of bringing this all on herself. That's why she answered:

'I can take it if you think I'm not up to my job title, but for your information I never saw the blueprints for what I was sued for by the city council. And since I could prove nothing I now need your help to make them confess to blatantly writing my name under obviously faulty plans. I can't do this alone and I don't have a 'helluva lot of money, but I will if I get my good name cleared.'

The guys looked at Hannibal, clearly suggesting that he should say his you-just-hired-the-A-Team words. They came out of his mouth after just a moment's reflection over the loathsome tone of her sharp answer. This was going to be a struggle.

* * *

'How long are you going to pretend to be asleep?' she asked with a smirk.

'Sorry, I was just thinking.'

'About what, if I may ask?' she turned to face him.

'Remember how we first met?'

'How could I forget, no-one has ever left such a first impression on me like you did,' she said with a mock smile taped on her face.

'What gave you such a _wrong_ first impression of me, may I ask?' he looked a little worried she still hadn't put their disagreements behind.

'I'm truly sorry about that, but you really started that conversation with me with the wrong foot, giving me the raised eyebrows for being an engineer, that usually does it for me,'

'We first met at the bar, I never made comments there,'

'Yes but one of your aliases did. Throughout the whole time at the bar I thought I knew you from somewhere but I couldn't say where. Only when I had joined you for some other cases was it when I learnt about your disguise skills. That's when it sort of fell into place.'

'Is this the way it's going to be from now on, we get along like normal people do?' he mocked her.

'No, 'course not. We got a reputation to defend,' she answered with equal attitude, 'and someone is making coffee downstairs.'

They dragged themselves downstairs to meet the team who probably had slept just as little as they had. The couple was greeted with knowing smiles.

'Coffee to the sleepless ones? Congrats to you two love-birds,' said Murdock. He knew he was probably the only one of the team who could get away with something like that so he just threw it out for the world to hear what others were probably thinking.

Hannibal gave a quick glance at Kate's direction to see if it didn't offend her but she was already helping them to some coffee and only playfully pretended to attack Murdock with the coffee-pot.

'Which is it, Hannibal, black with one sugar or white without sugar? You seem to have conflicting tastes.'

'Both,' he said and thought to himself, 'and that's exactly why I fell for you and what makes you so _great_ at anything you do, the details.'

* * *

_I hope this is reading up to your expectations and in the next couple of chapters I shall think of some fun occurrences from the earlier days as IndeMaat (thanks again for the great review) suggested I did. I appreciate the reviews and all of your criticism, I really want to make this piece of fiction work for you, so don't hesitate to put down a line to tell me what you would like to read. Keep reading and reviewing!_


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